Taking kids out of school for vacation (smart, grandpa, friend)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A brief true story. It's also very sad. My husband's 2nd son was handicapped, in and out of hospitals. The MakeAWish Foundation had granted him a wish - to go to DisneyWorld. It was scheduled for the end of January. He didn't make it. All the school in the world would not have been as beneficial as the family spending one vacation watching his little 4 yr old face light up.
Please, go. No one knows what is going to happen next week. or year.
Thank you for giving us something to think about always. I'm sorry for your loss.
I've always been the person who said "why don't you just take your kids on vacation when there isn't school and there won't be a problem"....but now, I have came up on this situation myself. My husband has to schedule his vacations for the following year in October/November. So we have to pick what we can get, and he picked a week where our children were supposed to finished with school. The school has 5 additional days built in for snow days when school is cancelled, and normally we don't use them. HOWEVER, this year, today marks day one of an additional day being added on to the end of the school year and from the looks of it they'll be out the next 3 days also. Which means my kids will miss the last 4 days of school. I hate that it works out this way, but we had already planned it and paid for it in advance...which our vacation just happens to be Disney World.
So my thoughts, normally no I would never pull my kids out for vacation. This time around, I will pull them out for it. After all, between all three of them only 1 of them has missed a day of school and they are B students so I believe they will be fine. If I could reschedule the vacation, I would but since my husband's vacation is set in stone we have no other options. So I'm just giving my situation as an example.
I have done it and I will do it again. I don't care what the school says..what are they going to do about it?
I don't work right now but my husband does. He can't necessarily take vacation in the summer or other school.breaks. You go when you can, plain and simple.
Oh, my bf lives in Raleigh NC or Apex. They had their kids in an all year around school. A couple of years ago her mom got cancer and was given one year to live. Before she passed my friend tried really hard to fly home ( to Sweden) for a last good bye. The school wouldn't give them the time.
I have done it and I will do it again. I don't care what the school says..what are they going to do about it?
I don't work right now but my husband does. He can't necessarily take vacation in the summer or other school.breaks. You go when you can, plain and simple.
This thread a few years old. ,
In Mississippi, you can get turned over to the local Youth Court for truancy. Also, for high school students, it can be a problem making up final exams, if the teachers are even willing to come back after their contracts are completed for the year. With younger children, there may be fewer academic consequences, but the truancy laws still apply.
Until I had a high schooler, I didnt blink at taking them out - especially because we are so far away from family. Now because of the rigidity of her honors program, it is a no-go. Miss too many days and it is too difficult for her to make up.
I've always been the person who said "why don't you just take your kids on vacation when there isn't school and there won't be a problem"....but now, I have came up on this situation myself. My husband has to schedule his vacations for the following year in October/November. So we have to pick what we can get, and he picked a week where our children were supposed to finished with school. The school has 5 additional days built in for snow days when school is cancelled, and normally we don't use them. HOWEVER, this year, today marks day one of an additional day being added on to the end of the school year and from the looks of it they'll be out the next 3 days also. Which means my kids will miss the last 4 days of school. I hate that it works out this way, but we had already planned it and paid for it in advance...which our vacation just happens to be Disney World.
So my thoughts, normally no I would never pull my kids out for vacation. This time around, I will pull them out for it. After all, between all three of them only 1 of them has missed a day of school and they are B students so I believe they will be fine. If I could reschedule the vacation, I would but since my husband's vacation is set in stone we have no other options. So I'm just giving my situation as an example.
For elementary school, its not a big deal really.
For middle school, if the kids are very good students they can likely make it up with no bump to their grade.
For high school, most kids, especially those in AP/honors classes, will have a serious dip to their grades due to a weeklong vacation. IME, it is usually at least half a grade level to the marking period.
As a retired teacher I really enjoyed reading this thread.
Of course, the school where the family with the dying grandmother in Sweden should have let them go to visit her. Of course, the school where the family won an "once in a lifetime" vacation should have left them go. However, what usually happens is that people who believe that "the rules do not apply to them" spoil it for everyone else.
I once had a first grader with some serious learning difficulties. About the second week in September his mom said that he would miss Friday and maybe Monday because they were traveling out of state so he could see his grandmother. Of course, I was happy for them as Mom said that they only "rarely got to visit her". Well , Mom's definition of rarely and my definition of rarely were very, very different. Soon, it become an every other weekend event. Sometimes they left on Thursday and the student didn't return to school until the following Wednesday. By midyear (90 days) he had already missed 25 days of school.
The Mom couldn't understand why he kept falling farther and farther behind and blamed the teacher (me). She was insulted when the principal told her that it was unlikely that her son would be able to catch up with his peers considering how much time he had missed. She transferred him to another school district a little later.
I also have had several students over the years where the families have taken month long vacations every year. It is hard to catch up when you miss that much school.
As a retired teacher I really enjoyed reading this thread.
Of course, the school where the family with the dying grandmother in Sweden should have let them go to visit her. Of course, the school where the family won an "once in a lifetime" vacation should have left them go. However, what usually happens is that people who believe that "the rules do not apply to them" spoil it for everyone else.
I once had a first grader with some serious learning difficulties. About the second week in September his mom said that he would miss Friday and maybe Monday because they were traveling out of state so he could see his grandmother. Of course, I was happy for them as Mom said that they only "rarely got to visit her". Well , Mom's definition of rarely and my definition of rarely were very, very different. Soon, it become an every other weekend event. Sometimes they left on Thursday and the student didn't return to school until the following Wednesday. By midyear (90 days) he had already missed 25 days of school.
The Mom couldn't understand why he kept falling farther and farther behind and blamed the teacher (me). She was insulted when the principal told her that it was unlikely that her son would be able to catch up with his peers considering how much time he had missed. She transferred him to another school district a little later.
I also have had several students over the years where the families have taken month long vacations every year. It is hard to catch up when you miss that much school.
I think there is a big difference between missing 6 days as was proposed in the OP and what you describe...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
